The city of Niigata (JPN) located northwest of Tokyo in front of the island of Sado and the capital of the prefecture of the same name is hosting the 89th edition of the Japan Inter-University Athletics Championships.
The competitions have very important prizes, including the Cup offered by the Emperor of Japan.
In the morning today (Tokyo time) the two walking events took place in the Prefectural Niigata main stadium, both on the 10.000m track walk distance that saw very interesting names at the start.
10.000m track walk men
23 athletes were present at the start.
The favorite was Koki Ikeda (JPN) who competes for Toyo Dishizuoka University.
The strong athlete of the national team of Japan, which boasts a personal best of 38:40.04 over the distance (established in Kitami on 7.7.2018), tried in every way to improve his personal best.
Unfortunately for only 1:41/100 he did not succeed in the feat.
Instead, he managed to improve the Great Meeting record (39:18.04) that belonged to Daisuke Matsunaga (he too competed for Toyo Dishizuoka University) since 2015.
This performance, however, cannot go unnoticed since today it represents the best result in the world of the 2020 season on the distance of 10.000m track walk, relegating to the drawer the 38:50.9h of Perseus Karlstrom (SWE) established in Melbourne (AUS) on 12.1.2020.
Second place to Yuta Koga (JPN) who finished in 40:19.90 (he boasts a personal best of 39:44.21 set in Hitachinaka, JPN on 8.10.2019)
Third place ito Masatora Kawano (JPN) in 40:35.20
After these three athletes under the wall of 41:00.00 six other athletes classified under 42:00.00 and two under 43:00.00.
10.000m track walk women
16 athletes were present at the start.
The absence of a real leader generated a three-way race for the title and the contenders were: Nami Hayashi (personal best of 47:48.55 established in Hiratsuka, JPN on 8.6.2019), Maika Yagi (personal best of 47:28.64 established in Hiratsuka, JPN on 16.6.2018) and Mao Tachimi (JPN).
Victory to Nami Hayashi (JPN) in 48:03.37
Second place to Mao Tachimi (JPN) in 48:33.73
Third place to Maika Yagi (JPN) in 48:43.05 which established the new personal best.
The start in Niigata Stadium (photo by Kojii Hoga Miura - JPN)